Smelting processes are used to produce metal from ore. Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to reduce the ore and remove extraneous materials, such as oxygen, to produce a pure metal product. One known smelting process is used to produce aluminum. Aluminum smelting requires large blocks of carbon anodes, typically weighing thousands of pounds, to be partially submerged in an electrolyte bath, such as cryolite, in a carbon-lined pot. A significant amount of current is applied to the anodes, causing the anodes to react with the carbon-lined pot, cryolite bath, and raw alumina to produce the pure molten aluminum product. Typically, a bank of anodes, consisting of roughly 20-40 anodes, is provided on either side of the pot. The anodes dissolve during the aluminum formation process, which requires constant adjustment of the bank of anodes with respect to the cryolite bath. Known systems for adjusting the height of the anode bank requires the entire anode bank to be adjusted at once. This is problematic because individual anodes within a single bank do not necessarily dissolve at the same rate, resulting in uneven submersion of the anodes in the cryolite bath. Other known systems for adjusting the height of the anodes include individual adjusters that require a user to un-clamp and re-clamp each individual anode during adjustments. This requires significant time and effort, considering a typical smelting assembly includes roughly 400-700 pots and roughly 20-40 anodes per pot.
It would be desirable to provide an improved system for adjusting the height of anodes in a smelting assembly.